Auditor: Convicted ex-Pickaway County veteran services official owes another $160

Tuesday

Dec 20, 2016 at 12:01 AMDec 20, 2016 at 5:03 PM

For Pickaway County, the damage caused by the former director of the Veterans Service Office keeps piling up. State Auditor Dave Yost's office released an audit report for the county Tuesday, and said there is yet another $160 that was not included in thousands of dollars in restitution that a court ordered Rebecca Lee to be repay after a jury convicted her this year of stealing from the county for years.

Holly Zachariah, The Columbus Dispatch

For Pickaway County, the damage caused by the former director of the Veterans Service Office keeps piling up.

State Auditor Dave Yost's office released an audit report for the county Tuesday, and said there is yet another $160 that was not included in thousands of dollars in restitution that a court ordered Rebecca Lee to be repay after a jury convicted her this year of stealing from the county for years.

The dollar figure may seem like small potatoes, but county officials have been dealing with the fallout of Lee's schemes for more than two years, when the longtime executive director was first suspended. She later was fired.

Pickaway County Common Pleas Judge P. Randall Knece sentenced Lee to three years in prison last month after her conviction on charges of theft in office, grand theft, theft and unauthorized use of property. She stole thousands of dollars by double-dipping on mileage reimbursements and by running up tabs on a county credit card, and also stole historic war memorabilia. The judge ordered Lee to pay back $19,228 but the audit found that did not not include a $100 speaking fee that she received and then pocketed from a Nazarene church and additional mileage that was unaccounted for, hence the new $160 finding.

The audit says Lee must pay the $160 back to the county general fund. Yost's report notes that additional controls have been put into place to keep this from happening again at the office.